Courses Fall 2004

Fall 2004:Philosophy or Religion
Summer 2004: All courses

Fall 2004
Philosophy
PHIL 105/105G Western Philosophy
.001 TF 2:10-3:25PM Stam, J
The history of philosophy, like that of humanity, may be read as a history of love and desire. From the famous “Platonic love” that seeks wisdom to the historical desires that make up human consciousness for Hegel, from the medieval passion for God to the postmodern desire for Otherness, love and desire have been central to the philosophical constructions of human identity, moral meaning, and the very project of understanding. In this course we undertake a survey of Western philosophy from the perspective of love and desire, exploring the ways in which these terms have been understood and have in turn formed our philosophical understanding.

.002 TF 11:20-12:35PM Lovering, R
.003H MTH 11:20-12:35PM TBA
A historical introduction to the Western philosophical tradition. Students closely examine classic and contemporary texts on the nature of reality, truth, morality, goodness, and justice; the possibility of knowledge; faith, reason, and the existence of God; and the issue of freedom and determinism.

.004 T 5:30-8:00PM Greenberg, G
This course provides a historical introduction to the Western philosophical traditions. Students will be introduced to the three major branches of philosophy - metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. The course invites students to address some of the philosophical problems, which have seized the attention of great thinkers throughout history: What is the nature of Reality? What is the good life? How should one live? What is justice? How do human beings achieve knowledge? Does God exist? Do human beings have free will? The objectives of the course are: (1) to familiarize students with some of the great philosophers' answers to these questions and (2) to provide a background for students as they begin to formulate their own answers to these major philosophical problems. The format of the course will be lecture and discussion.

This course is a foundation-level course in the General Education Program, Area 2, Cluster 2: "Traditions that Shape the Western World".

PHIL 200 Introduction to Logic
.001 TF 9:55-11:10 Lovering, R
Basic principles of inductive and deductive reasoning. Text and exercises supplemented by readings and discussions in history, philosophy, and applications of logic.

PHL 211 Introduction to Asian Philosophy
.001 M 5:30-8:00PM Park, J
A thematic introduction to the Eastern philosophical tradition. Students will read major texts (both classic and contemporary) in Eastern philosophy on the topics of being, world, society, and ethics, and examine Eastern philosophers’ views on the nature of self, personhood, politics, family, and gender; logics, religion, and cosmology.

PHIL 220/220G Moral Philosophy
.001 TF 12:45-2:00PM Lovering, R
The theories concerning the nature of goodness found in Western philosophy. The major discussion issues are traditional principles for evaluating goodness and telling right from wrong; the difference between fact and value; the justification of normative judgments; objectivity in ethics; and the relationship between moral and nonmoral goodness.

This course is a second-level course in the General Education Program, Curricular Area 2, Cluster 2: Traditions that Shape the Western World.

Prerequisites for General Education credit: Individual Freedom vs. Authority, Work and Community, Western Legal Tradition, Western Philosophy, or Religious Heritage of the West.

PHIL 230/230G Meaning & Purpose in the Arts
.001 TH 5:30-8:00PM James, N.
Leading theories of the nature, purpose, and meaning of artistic activities and objects examined through writings of philosophers, artists, and critics of ancient and modern times. Both Western and non-Western viewpoints are considered. Student projects apply critical ideas to particular works in an art form familiar to them.

This course is a second-level course in the General Education Program, Curricular Area 1, Cluster 2: The Creative Arts.

Prerequisites for General Education credit: Art: The Historical Experience, Visual Literacy, Interpreting Literature, or Critical Approach to the Cinema.

PHIL 235/235G Theories of Democracy & Human Rights
.001 MTH 3:35-4:50PM Peach, L
This course analyzes traditional western theories of democracy and of rights (both separately and in relationship to one another) as well as contemporary approaches, such as Habermasian, post-modern, feminist and critical race theory. It also considers the East-West debate on Human Rights.

This course is a second-level course in the General Education Program, Curricular Area 2, Cluster 2: Traditions that Shape the Western World.

Prerequisites for General Education credit: Individual Freedom vs. Authority, Work and Community, Western Legal Tradition, Western Philosophy, or Religious Heritage of the West.

PHIL 240/240G Ethics in the Professions
.001 TTH 8:10-9:25PM TBA
This course provides a framework for thinking generally about ethics, and more specifically about professional ethics. In addition, it addresses ethical dilemmas that arise in the professions of government, law, business, medicine, the media, and the academy.

This course is a second-level course in the General Education Program, Curricular Area 4, Cluster 1: Social Institutions and Behavior.

Prerequisites for General Education credit: Understanding Mass Media, Macroeconomics, Politics in the United States, or Global Sociology.

PHIL 302/602 Nineteenth Century Philosophy
.001 W 2:10-4:50PM Tschemplik, A
The nineteenth century was rich with philosophical thought and many thinkers wrote voluminous works. We will carve out a space toward understanding the significance of German Idealism and its consequences. We will begin by familiarizing ourselves with some of the fundamental questions and problems Kant left for his successors to solve and then examine the solution offered by thinkers such as Hegel, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. We will pay particular attention to those thinkers’ responses to art, science, and religion and, most importantly, to the role history comes to play for philosophy.

PHIL 310/610 The Classical Period: Self-Knowledge and Knowledge in Plato's Philosophy
.001 MTH 12:45-2:00PM Tschemplik, A
Human wisdom is worth little or nothing. I know that I don’t know. These claims, made by Socrates at the end of his life, have led some to suppose that he was a skeptic. In this course we will examine the connection between the knower and the known, and whether knowledge can be the object of knowledge. To gain a better understanding of these questions we will turn to some dialogues which address the question of knowledge, such as the "Theaetetus" and the "Meno," and compare those discussions with the dialogues that deal with the problem of self-knowledge, such as the "Charmides" and the "Phaedrus." Finally, we will read the "Apology" and see whether or not we can make sense of Socrates’ assertions.

PHIL 315/615 Topics in Jewish Philosophy: Jewish-Muslim Dialogue
.001 TH 8:10-10:40PM Hostetter, E
This course examines the religious encounter of Jews and Muslims through philosophy, history, and culture. Students will study the background of Jewish-Muslim relations, interact with Judaism and Islam to understand their struggles and celebrations, and explore reasons as well as methods for respectful dialogue at personal and communal levels.

PHIL 317/617 Race and Philosophy
.001 T 5:30-8:00PM Feder, E
An introduction to the emerging area of critical race theory in philosophy. The course examines the development of “race’ as an object of philosophy beginning in the early modern period, explores the way in which analysis of race has brought philosophy into public conversation, and the ways that philosophers have treated race and racism.

Prerequisite: one course in philosophy.

PHIL 355/655 Philosophy of Religion
.001 TF 3:35-4:50PM Rodier, D
The question of the existence and nature of God or the Gods has been a central topic for philosophers both East and West. Recent developments in science, logic, phenomenology as well as cross-cultural philosophic dialogue have provided a new context for philosophy of religion. In this course we shall explore the contemporary intellectual context of some of the issues and problems characteristic of philosophy of religion in the tradition of Western philosophy. Then we shall discuss the series of issues normally covered in contemporary courses in philosophy of religion. However, our discussions will be informed by the understandings of these problems developed by philosophers in South and East Asia as well as the standard Western sources. Among the issues to be discussed will be: the relation of science and religion, the nature of religious language, the existence and nature of God, personalist and impersonalist understandings of God, miracles, human immortality, and the possibility of evaluating the truth-claims of competing religious traditions.

Prerequisite: two courses in philosophy or permission of instructor.

PHIL 386/686 Selected Topics in Philosophy: Habermas’s Discourse Ethics
.001 W 5:30-8:00PM Reiman, J
This course will examine the pros and cons of "discourse ethics," according to which moral norms are valid if they could be freely endorsed by everyone concerned on the basis of an open and honest discussion. This formulation resonates with Kantian-Rawlsian notions, but is claimed to be less abstract and more historical than they are. Final decisions about assigned books have not yet been made, but the current prospect is that we will read three books: Habermas’s Communication and the Evolution of Society, an early statement of discourse ethics as well as a discussion of how discourse theory makes it possible to build moral progress into a Marxian account of history; The Communicative Ethics Controversy, edited by Benhabib and Dallmayr, which includes a later statement by Habermas in defense of discourse ethics as well as essays pro and con on the topic; and Habermas’s Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy, a recent work in which Habermas extends discourse ethics into an account of deliberative democracy. We will also read an exchange between Habermas and Rawls that appeared in the March 1995 issue of the Journal of Philosophy.

PHIL 390/590 Independent Reading Course in Philosophy

Prerequisite: permission of instructor and department chair.

PHIL 391/691 Internship in Philosophy
.001 T 8:10-9:25PM Feder, E
An internship provides the opportunity to test the claim that philosophy is the kind of discipline that teaches transferable skills such as critical reading, analytical problem-solving and clear and careful writing. These skills are desirable since many research institutes, non-profit organizations, think tanks and legal and business organizations--all of which Washington supports in abundance--are in search of individuals with such skills. Students enrolled in the internship will design, in consultation with the internship coordinator, a reading list and individual syllabus appropriate to their internships. Students will meet together throughout the semester, beginning the second week of classes.

Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

PHIL 392/692 Cooperative Education Field Experience

Prerequisite: permission of department chair and Cooperative Education office.

PHIL 486 Colloquium of Philosophy: Peeping into Modern Japanese Philosophy: Nishida Kitaro
.001 T 8:10-10:40PM Park, J
(October 5 – November 2, 2004)
Nishida Kitaro is allegedly a most well-known modern Japanese thinker who has been respected as a founder of East-West comparative philosophy in Japan by incorporating Zen Buddhism with Continental philosophy. He has also been criticized for having provided a philosophical support for Japanese imperialism during World War II. We will do a close reading of one of his major texts, An Inquiry into the Good, and investigate how Nishida thought about the self, the world, and the good at the dawn of modernity in Japan.

PHIL 490/690 Independent Study Project in Philosophy

Prerequisite: permission of instructor and department chair.

PHIL 498 Honors Project in Philosophy

Prerequisite: permission of department and University Honors Director.

PHIL 520 Seminar on Ethical Theory
.001 TH 5:30-8:00PM Peach, L
Survey of the development of ethical theory in Western philosophy by analysis of major works in classical and contemporary moral philosophy. Issues investigated include the nature of the good and the right, the possibility of moral knowledge, the principles of individual virtue and social justice, the problems of ethical relativism and absolutism, and the foundations of modern conceptions of human rights.

Prerequisite: one introductory course in philosophy.

PHIL 797 Master's Thesis Seminar

Prerequisite: permission of department chair.

Religion
RELG 105/105G Religious Heritage of the West
.001 MTh 3:35-4:50PM Greenberg, G
This course explores the contribution of religion to Western civilization, the eastern Mediterranean roots of Western religions, the emergence of Christianity in the Greco-Roman world, the rise of Islam, the mature religious synthesis of Medieval Europe, and modern secularism’s challenge to this tradition.

This course is a foundation-level course in the General Education Program, Curricular Area 2, Cluster 2: Traditions that Shape the Western World.

RELG 185/185G Forms of the Sacred
.001 MTH 9:55-11:10AM Park, J
The course covers five major religious traditions in Asia: Hinduism, Buddhism (its development in India and its transformation in East Asia), Confucianism and Taoism (two indigenous religious traditions of China), and Shinto (an indigenous religion of Japan). We will examine basic doctrines of each religion and discuss different ways of understanding the relationship between life and death, god and human beings, and the secular and the sacred. Also addressed is religion's influence on the construction of gender, national and individual identity, and social consciousness.

.002 MTH 2:10-3:25PM White, C
The course begins with an introduction to the method of studying the history of religions. A brief survey of primal religions and Judaism and Christianity provides a basis for comparative analysis of the major Eastern religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese Religions, Shinto, and Islam. The aim of the course is to develop understanding of these religious systems through a variety of ways such as lectures, discussions, and audiovisual programs.

.003 TF 11:20-12:35PM Rodier, D
Religious beliefs and acts are fundamental to self-identity and since we live both in a multi-cultural society and in a global village an understanding of various religious traditions is crucial to understanding our contemporary world. This course will provide an overview of three major religious traditions: those which developed in South Asia and form Hinduism; Buddhism as it developed in India and interacted with the indigenous traditions of Central and East Asia; and the religious traditions of China, Japan and Korea. Throughout the course we shall pay careful attention both to the expressions of these religious traditions in high culture and to their popular forms and manifestations.

This course is a foundation-level course in the General Education Program, Curricular Area 3, Cluster 2: Global and Multicultural Perspectives.

RELG 210/210G Nonwestern Religion: Buddhism
.001 MTH 2:10-3:25PM Park, J
This course investigates Buddhist tradition in Asia. The first half of the semester will be devoted to the understanding of major doctrines of Buddhism, such as no-self theory and dependent-coarising, and historical development of the tradition in South and East Asia. During the second half we will discuss the encounter of Buddhism with modernity and see how this ancient tradition becomes involved with social changes in the twentieth century when Asian societies go through a radical change with the encounter with the West.

This course is a second-level course in the General Education Program, Curricular Area 3, Cluster 2: Global and Multicultural Perspectives.

Prerequisites for General Education credit: Culture: The Human Mirror, Third-World Literature, Forms of the Sacred, Cross-Cultural Communication, Views from the Third World.

RELG 386/686 Selected Topics in Religion: Religion & Violence
.001 M 8:10-10:40PM Greenberg, G
This course explores the religious dimensions, both ideological and cultural, to political and military conflict. Themes include sacred geography and literature as grounds for bloodshed, the sanctity of race, martyrdom/terrorism, and pacifism. Empirical data is drawn from Germany, Lithuania, the Middle East and the Balkans.

RELG 390/590 Independent Reading Course in Religion

Prerequisite: permission of department chair.

RELG 490/690 Independent Study Project in Religion

Prerequisite: permission of department chair.

RELG 498 Honors Project in Religion

Open only to students in the University Honors Program.

Prerequisite: permission of department chair and university honors director.

SUMMER 2004
PHIL-105/105G Western Philosophy
TTH 9:00-12:10PM Greenberg, G
May 17-June 24, 2004

PHIL-230/230G Meaning & Purpose in the Arts
TTH 5:30-8:40PM Greenberg, G
June 28-August 8, 2004

PHIL-392/692 Cooperative Education Field Experience
Prerequisite: permission of department chair and Cooperative Education

PHIL-797 Master’s Thesis Seminar

RELG-210/210G Asian & African Religious Traditions
MW 1:00-4:10PM Rodier, D
June 28-August 5, 2004